Anna Nicole Smith

This statuesque model started out as the Guess? jeans model, became Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1993 then sidled into acting in the features "The Hudsucker Proxy" and "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult" (both 1994). In both of these films, Smith played roles akin to her public persona, a vaguely ironic rendition of Jayne Mansfield (and perhaps Anita Ekberg), a blonde superwoman purring amidst the wraith-like waifs.

But to know Smith's personal side, one would have to take look into the past of this blond bombshell. Born Vickie Lynn Hogan, Smith was abandoned by her father and was shipped between her mother and aunt. When Smith was 17 years old she met a man by the name of Billy Smith, whom she married and in the same year they had a baby boy named Daniel. As a high school dropout, Smith found herself working at a local fried chicken restaurant. However, Smith always felt that she she was destined for bigger and better things. She relocated to Houston, sans Billy, and began working at topless bars. Before long, Smith became one of the most popular strippers in Houston. It was as a stripper that Smith met Texan millionaire J. Howard Marshall. Marshall was drawn to Smith instantly and began spoiling her with his riches.

Shortly after Smith decided to have a a breast augmentation, Playboy magazine came knocking on her door, offering her a full page spread. Her Playboy exposure literally jumped started her career in Hollywood as other print offers and feature roles came her way.

However, it was her 1994 marriage to the then 89-year-old oil typhoon J. Howard Marshall that really made her the talk of the town. Upon Marshall's death in 1995 (just 14 months into their marriage), Smith contested his six wills and seven trusts (all which stated she was to receive nothing) in a Texas probate court. In 1996, Smith declared bankruptcy in California, where a judge ruled she was entitled to $475 million of J. Howard Marshall's fortune - a source of bitterness among Marshall's family who would spend the next six years in appeal.

Anna Nicole When the E! "True Hollywood Story" featuring Anna Nicole Smith aired in 1997, the network had an unexpected response from audiences. It quickly became the series' highest rated episode. When MTV debuted the wildly popular reality series, "The Osbournes" in 2002, E! wasted no time following suit, asking Smith to star in what would become the "The Anna Nicole Show," documenting the daily life of Smith, her personal attorney, Howard K. Stern, her 23-year-old assistant Kim Walther and her surprisingly well adjusted straight-A-student son, Daniel. Today, Smith's world is larger than ever, and no one knows it better than her attorney Howard K. Stern. Besides negotiating Smith's personal appearances, he also fields calls from agents begging to represent her while hammering out potential deals for Smith, including a Showtime documentary about the blond bombshell tentatively titled "Illegally Blonde."